Sic Erat In Fatis
by Flying Penguinz
Summary: Set in Midnight Alley when Myrnin is locked in the cage Amelie put him in for Claire's safety.


_**So it was Fated**_

* * *

Amelie said that it had been for the best after Samuel had been... injured. But was locking him in a cage _really_ what would promise the little girl protection?

He—a creature of the night—was not going to promise Amelie the child's safety—even though _she_ had told the child she would make it so. A foolish thing to do on Amelie's part. The bars were thin. It felt as though the craftsmanship of them had decreased a great deal since his time. Back then, not even _he_ could break through the barriers of iron bars.

But now—with the worthless rods of metal—he could easily bend them apart to make his escape.

Myrnin saw his pocket watch on the floor. He growled to himself and picked it up, brushing dirt off the back. He checked it. His assistant was late. And he was expecting her.

He _hated _it when that girl was late. Couldn't she understand that what they were working on was _important?_ Well, maybe that child needed to be taught again.

Myrnin relaxed himself onto his small bed that someone had placed in his temporary shelter. He grabbed a book off the side of the cot and opened to a random page. He picked up his old glasses and just stared at the words as he thought.

Humans these days. So lazy. So distasteful. So... so _boring_. Myrnin remembered when the humans used to work. Hard jobs that made them exhausted everyday. And not just what the ones today thought was exhaustion. But working in the farms? Now _that_ was work. Sitting in an office on devices all day was not work. It would have been considered playtime.

Myrnin felt his hands tremble. He couldn't get his eyes to focus on anything. Darkness closed in around him and then, without realizing it, he let the disease take over his body.

Everything went by in a blur.

He heard footsteps. Fast, uneven footsteps. His hearing was exceedingly better and his eyes refocused on anything and everything he saw in a split second. He felt a constant tremor run through his hands as if with excitement. And then, he heard the padlock to his shack being clicked open, and the small human child descend down the steps to his confinement.

"Myrnin— Oh my God..."

Myrnin... the name sent signals through his body, but he couldn't place why. It was as if his conscience was trying to tell him something. Something he had forgotten...

"Myrnin, are you okay?"

Myrnin. It was his name.

His _name!_ Of all things to forget—his _name!_ Sadness flowed through his body as he continued to look at the words in his book. He didn't try to take anything in. Not the plot, the characters, the setting. He knew it all already. But now, the presence of the child just a few yards away from his cage was overwhelming.

He felt his eyes try to sneak over to her, but he forced them still.

As he focused on the glowing essence of Claire, he tried to return his thoughts to this stupid cage he was in while still staring at the book in his hands.

Amelie was such a fool.

"You're late," he said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, don't fret about the cage. It is for your precaution, of course. Since Samuel isn't here to watch over you," he said, gesturing to his small prison. Myrnin turned another page, to keep up the reading facade. But his eyes remained still. "Amelie's idea. Not really sure I approve."

Myrnin played it off with a shrug. He closed the book, not able to continue pretending to read. "I've been in cages before this," he said, remembering. So much to remember... He snapped out of it before he could trail off completely. "And no doubt that they'll let me out once your appointed guardian is here to chaperone. In the meantime..."

He couldn't remember what he had said after that. Things that would help Claire, probably. Help her learn. Carry on the knowledge. In case... Myrnin were to be taken from this wretched earth. No, not in case. When. When Myrnin was gone, Claire was going to be the one to figure out what disease was tampering with the vampires. He felt horrible. He felt as though he were cheating Claire. Because eventually, it was inevitable that Claire was going to become a vampire herself so she would be able to study longer and retain more information. Once Amelie had recruited her to research and study with Myrnin, she was bound to a life to be lived for eternity.

And then the darkness closed in again, everything grew sharp and deadly. Claire's timid talk of alchemy grew loud and made his ears ring. He felt his eyes swirl red, but he forced it back until he knew his eyes were just bottomless orbs of dark brown.

His immortal wit and deceiving nature came in to play as he suddenly remembered a way to get out of here. His escape was just a few yards away and all he needed from the child was a little cooperation. He smiled at his cleverness.

"I have an experiment I would like to try. Are you ready?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now move that bookcase," he said, pointing to a giant one stuffed with leather bound pages and hardbacks. "Push it out of the way," he said, growing impatient.

Claire went and moved it slowly, staggering from the weight. Myrnin's excitement reached its height as he saw the green door being revealed from the cover of the piece of furniture. It was secured by the lock. The lock, the lock, the lock.

The keys.

"Open it," he said. He was almost past the point of concealing his energy, so he picked up the same book from before and shuffled through the pages, seeing names, words, sentences, paragraphs...

"Where's the key?"

The key, the key, the key...

"No idea," he said, flipping through the pages faster, seeing everything, and yet taking in nothing. "Look around."

"In _here_? Could you give me a hint at least?"

Spoiled, spoiled child. "If I remembered, I would," he said simply. He paused in his searching of his book. His searching for nothing. For comfort? Nothing. He kept his face blank. Then everything was relieved from his mind. It was gone. He was turning into something he was all too familiar with. "Claire?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me why I am in this cage?" he asked. "I don't like cages. Bad things have happened to me in cages," he said, remembering the pain and hardship of a life surrounded by iron.

"Amelie says you have to be in there for a while. Remember? To help us."

Help? Fah!

Remember? No.

"I don't remember." He didn't like not remembering. "I'd like to get out of here. Could you open it, please?"

"No, I don't have the—" I looked at her, wondering what her hesitation was. She was pulling out the key ring.

_The keys._

He got up, feeling the excitement and anxiety return. He wrapped his fingers loosely around the bars. "Ah, excellent. Claire, please open the door. I can't show you what I need to if I'm locked in this cage."

"I'm not supposed to do that," she said without looking at him. "You wanted me to open this door, right?" she asked, taking the big skeleton key and positioning it in the lock on the door.

"Claire," he said, regrettably guilty and upset that he felt like he _needed_ to get away. "Please, look at me." She didn't turn around. She wouldn't face him. He was a monster. "_Claire, don't open that!_" he called in desperation.

"You told me to!"

"It _my _door! _My _escape! Come here and release me. _Now_!"

"I can't. I'm sorry."

Myrnin roared his impatience. He looked around. He had nothing. He let out a vicious stream of words in another language, calling Claire names that he knew she wouldn't understand. He tried to shoot hate from his eyes to burn into the back of her head because she _still_ wouldn't look at him. But...

He twisted the cage bars, noticing how thin they really were. They were never enough to hold him in, he didn't know why he even let Amelie do it. He bent the bars away from the lock and then it snapped. He pushed the door open. He didn't even notice the blood on his hands from the pain he was causing himself. But pain didn't matter. Not now. Not when the key to his release of his captivity was so close.

As he stepped out of his cage, Claire scrambled away from him, knocking things over in the process. Myrnin didn't care she was making a mess. All he knew was that he was losing his control and she was becoming his prey. He didn't want it. He shook his head and blinked his eyes, but the pull of her bright aura was impossible to decline.

Then she took the key and opened the door with it.

_No_.

And then what Myrnin saw changed Claire in his eyes forever.

_She knew how to work the portals._

The door framed a Founder Home's living room with a boy sitting on the couch, completely oblivious to Claire and him on the other side of the portal. The scent of chili wafted into his laboratory.

"Shane," she whispered, dumbstruck.

Myrnin couldn't allow her to go through to the boy where he would stare, profound she had just stepped through a wall into their home. He took he girl's shoulder in his hand and pulled her away from the door. The child in the picture perfect house started to turn his head in their direction, but Myrnin slammed the door shut and replaced the lock.

Another wave of confusion swept all of his knowledge away. Myrnin clenched his hands into fists as he stood there, shaking. He was scared. Who was this human child, standing just before him? A gift? From Amelie?

"Who are you?" he whispered. "Child, what brings you here. Do you not understand your danger? Who is your Patron? Were you sent as a gift?"

The little girl closed her eyes and then opened them. She looked him in the eyes when she said clearly, "You're Myrnin, and I'm Claire; I'm your friend, okay? You should let me help you. You hurt yourself." She pointed to his hands. Myrnin looked down, surprised to see that his hands were injured and bleeding.

Myrnin took a few steps back. He ran into a table of instruments and knocked over a stand with glass that shattered onto the floor. Myrnin sank against the wall, covering his face with his bloody hands and rocked back and forth like a lost child. He was so _confused_! He had forgotten everything. _Everything_. Absolutely everything.

"It's wrong," Myrnin choked out. "There was something important, something I had to do. I can't remember what it was." What was it? What_was _it? He was losing his mind. He was losing everything that he had worked so hard on. But he forgot what it had been. Something very, very important. Something others depended on. Anxiety replaced his anger, fear following close after.

"Myrnin," the girl said, "the door. The one I opened. Where does it go?"

"Door?" he asked, confused once again. "Doorways." Many doorways. "Moments in time, just moments, none of it stays; it flows like blood, you know, just like blood. I tried to bottle it, but it doesn't stay fresh. Time, I mean. Blood turns, and so does time." He wanted to go back. To when everything had been so much easier. When nothing was as insane as it was now. When his brain had been _good_. Not rotting in this stupid, stupid flesh. "What's your name?"

"Claire, sir. My name's Claire."

His head fell against the wall with a sharp thud. Tears ran down his cheeks. "Don't trust me, Claire." It was fair to warn her. All too fair... "Don't ever trust me." He banged his head against the wall, hoping to do some damage.

"I—no, sir. I won't." The rejection still stung, but he had told her. He could have nobody around. Everything had to be safe for them. For the humans. Myrnin's feelings didn't matter. They were nothing anymore.

"How long have I been your friend?" Becoming friends with humans, even vampires, was dangerous. He kept people at a distance. Far away.

"Not that long."

"I don't have friends. You don't, you know, when you're as old as I am. You have competitors, and you have allies, but not friends, never. You're too young, far too young to understand that." Nobody understood his loneliness. Not even Amelie. Well, perhaps she did. Maybe she just wanted to lead him to think she was fine. But everyone knew she wasn't. Everyone.

The name. The name, the name. Claire. Claire and Amelie. "Amelie wants you to learn from me, yes? So you are my student?" The child nodded. Claire. Claire nodded.

Myrnin took his glasses off, realizing he still had them on. It was a race against time. It was a race against the disease and time. Either Myrnin died, or killed Claire before she learned everything. "You won't be able to do it. You can't possibly learn quickly enough. I nearly killed you tonight. I'm not—I wasn't always like this. Claire. Please understand. unlike many of my kind, I never wanted to be a monster. I only wanted to learn, and this was a way to learn forever."

"I understand that." Oh, he didn't think she did. "I—Amelie wants me to help you, and learn from you. Do you think I'm smart enough?"

"Oh, you're smart enough. Could you master the skills, given enough time?" Would there be enough time? "Perhaps. And you'll have no choice in the matter; she'll keep you coming until you learn, or I destroy you." Everything cleared. Everything was visible once again. "Did I remind you not to trust me?"

"Yes, sir."

"It's good advice. But just this once, ignore it and allow me to help you."

#

And so help was given. Both ways. Always, the Latin saying reformed in the back of Myrnin's mind. _Serva me, servabo te._ Save me, and I will save you. Myrnin presented Claire with the knowledge that would lead to redemption and Claire cleared him from his evil. Symbiosis. What was taken from Myrnin was reciprocated from Claire. Everything was how it should be.


End file.
